Over the last several decades there have been numerous catastrophic events resulting in major oil spills in various parts of the world. Numerous technologies have been employed during the remediation processes that have failed to substantially capture the oil and prevent significant ecological damage. Increased demand has further generated a significant rise deep sea drilling and discovery, which can also lead to minor but often frequent contamination. The increase in the presence of wells offshore will ultimately increase the tonnage of petroleum products transported or handled at sea. This will result in the increased likelihood of future oil spills in relation to these activities. The increased likelihood of oil spills in relation to the aforementioned activities, therefore, creates a need for oil spill recovery equipment that is capable of extracting the oil from the sea environment with greater efficiency and capacity.
For example, current technology commonly used incorporates a barge or other similar style vessel that has deployed therefrom at least one oleophilic belts which function to lift an oil slick from the surface of the sea water to a wringing device that compresses the oil from the belt and transfers into a storage tank on the barge. While this has shown to be successful in calm water, it is not effective in average seas that are often present on the world's oceans. Additionally, the vessels associated with this type of oil recovery system are typically not seaworthy to withstand above average seas. A further limitation is the rate at which this recovery process occurs, which is often very slow resulting in a percentage of the oil sinking beyond a depth at which it can be recovered.
Another example of existing technology for oil spill recovery is the utilization of booms in combination with suction technology. The booms are deployed to circumferentially surround at least a portion of the oil spill and a recovery vessel having suction technology utilizes an intake to draw up the oil floating on the surface of the water. This type of equipment is particularly inefficient in that it intakes a significant volume of sea water and has shown to have problems in choppy water. Furthermore, the intakes of the suction technology are often prone to clog and breakdown with debris entering the suction system.
Accordingly, there is a need for an oil recovery vessel that can facilitate a rapid collection of oil from the surface of the water regardless of the sea conditions and wherein the oil collection does not collect a significant percentage of water in the recovery yield. Additionally, an improved ability to manage potential debris and substantially avoid any issues caused by the presence of the debris and the oil recovery collection is needed.